In which there is sushi and wildlife

I made these! My own crafted rolls!

I haven't got any more outfit photos, but I thought I'd do another 'life shots' post today. The coolest thing I did recently was take a sushi making class (thanks in-laws!) with my husband, and it was so fun. I was worried that it wouldn't really cover much and also that we wouldn't get to eat much. But nope. We made so many things, and we had so much to eat that we filled a box to take home afterwards and had the rest for breakfast the next day.

 I was seduced by an incredible book today. I had been saying recently how one of my ambitions is to own every year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year book. And also all the Portrait Photographer of the Year books too. And maybe some of the Astronomy Photography of the Year too, because wow, those books are brilliant. And then in front of me in Waterstones was this dreamy temptation: 50 Years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the best of the best. So you know, I got it. I love having a job.

Yes, this is a photo of a photo, taken in the evening. It does not do the actual photo justice.

The stunning book inspired me to do a little more revision of my own photography skills, because I want to be able to record the trip to Japan in a way I'll be proud of and not a series of out of focus crowd shots. But then reading the Wildlife Photography book, it's amazing to remember that these guys* are not just great photographers, they're determined and dedicated photographers. So many of the shots in the book describe great lengths people went to in order to get the shot. Some say ten years of studying polar bears for one of the greatest shots in all of history. Or maybe just 6 months camped out in a hide in a protected forest, waiting at the beautiful waterfall for a tiger to drink, and pause and look into your eyes. It's the stories of how the pictures are taken which add even more depth and awe to the images.

 

However another bit of my mind just can't understand and is going: "How? How could you spend 3 months travelling with elephants to take the perfect shot? Who is paying you for this? How do you have the time?"
For some of them they are gamekeepers, or park-keepers or scientists or documentary makers, but all the same I struggle to understand how it happens that you can give your life to that shot, to take the 80,000 that leads to the photo of the century. Every time I go to one of the photography exhibits I wonder this same thing, how can you spend so long aiming for that one shot? But also, it is acceptable not to be brilliant because we all make choices and we don't all have that time.

 But there we are, I guess I'll have to meet one and ask them. Any ideas?




*I did notice in the book that nearly all the names mentioned are men, with few exceptions which is a little disappointing, and may go some way to answer something about my question of 'who?' and 'how do they have time?'

In which there are even more wedding pictures

So the post about the wedding were dwindling away, and real life has very much returned to my world. However, there are still left over bit and pieces that we have to do. Get new passports, change our names on everything, and of course make the photo album. Our photographers were utterly amazing and sent us 1300 photos! It's more than we ever imagined there would be, but  they are amazing. We wrestled it down to 200 for the album after going through them over and over. I thought today would be nice to share a tiny snippet more of the top selection. Last time we only had the sneak preview, so I am going to share a few more of the moments that you didn't see. Especially the cake. Because if you do read this blog a lot you might remember the posts about the cake-making and testing or how to make an origami bouquet. You might remember my wedding planning montage so now you can see all those final bits of making, happening in the real world

Wedding rings, in the box Andy used to propose to me with.

So that's what the boy were doing in the morning.

I wrote a little love letter to Andy to be read on the morning of, and delivered to him in this little tin.

Shoes! With hearts on them!

Me, reading from Now We Are Six at our first ceremony.

Jumping right to the second ceremony.

Parents.

Apparently I really like pictures of shoes

I love this picture! I love it so much it's going to be the cover for the wedding album.

Pimms. Mmm.

We had some giant games.

And a giant parachute.

There was in fact a bit of a games theme.

Kingdom Hearts themed centrepieces, which took forever to make. I do love Kingdom Hearts.

The guestbook. Also a lot of work. I layered origami paper over each other on the page behind, then cut out our names and the date with a craft knife. Then glued together.

It's the cakes! Exactly what you've been waiting for I am sure. Aren't they just the best? My mum made these!

There was dancing

and briefly sushi. People ate that so fast I barely managed any myself.

And more dancing!

So there we have it. As I said, that's down from 1300 so I'm not showing it all and perhaps my choices were a little odd. However, I hope you are interested/amused/entertained/confused by the things you have seen.

In which I ponder

I am obliged to begin my post with Follow my blog with bloglovin if I wish to gain any more interest in my writings it appears. It seems a little dictorial, I'd rather it was just an option on the side but hey. I am a little disappointed that I have been writing here for months and have had so little interest I confess. I am just wondering if my exploits are just not daring enough.
However I enjoy writing this and keeping myself busy with it and it reminds me to keep exploring new ways of making origami defeat the world.
It was my birthday yesterday and I had a most fantastic day. I ate japanese food, hung out with some friends (even superheroes have some friends) and received a most beautiful mock-vintage record player. However woke up this morning with a letter from the tax man saying he will well be taxing me. Never fun at all. I'm pretty stressed about money at the moment I confess.
Apparantly stopping crime doesn't pay. :)
I will write a little bit more about my recent adventures shortly. For now I will leave you with a picture of a cake, because it makes me happy.